Atlantic City Smoking Ban is a Sham

May 11, 2007

If Atlantic City casinos think new restrictions on smoking will help business, they're wrong: thousands of nonsmokers will still keep their distance.

Smoking has been banned in only 75 per cent of all casino space -- an idea as ill-conceived as confining chlorine to one-quarter of a public pool.

New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the Union, passed a smoking ban for bars and restaurants a year ago but knuckled under to pressure from the casino industry, exempting the 11 Atlantic City casinos.

Then the Atlantic City Council got into the act, first planning to enact their own smoking ban for casinos but caving in when the gambling establishments whined that a ban would hurt business.

Never mind that thousands of employees, as well as guests, will have their lives placed in jeopardy by the 1600 known carcinogens found only in passive tobacco smoke.

The city council, in its infinite wisdom, decided on a partial ban -- even though research indicates that 80 per cent of adults in New Jersey like the total ban that applies to bars and restaurants.

While it's true that casinos will be required to build enclosures designed to completely segregate smoking sections, there's no way to keep passive smoking from invading the space of nonsmokers (a.k.a. those who prefer clean air over cancer).

Some 18 states -- and at least as many foreign countries -- ban smoking in public places and more are joining the bandwagon every day. But the casino industry claims a total ban would cost them 3500 jobs and up to 20 per cent of their revenues.

I disagree: everywhere else smoking bans passed, business improved because nonsmokers who never went out before suddenly became regular customers.

It happened in New York, Los Angeles, and even tony Aspen, where diners found lines shorter because smokers who once lingered over coffee and cigarettes vacated the premises more quickly.

Nonsmokers still have mountains to climb: even in states where restaurant smoking is banned, outdoor seating areas are still filled with people who think nothing of puffing away. Florida, a top winter tourist destination, comes to mind immediately.

Why should smokers be able to enjoy the benign climate, water views, and wildlife while nonsmokers are confined to inside areas? At the very least, laws should be passed to make all or most outdoors seating areas smokefree as well. Smokers can do what they do in regular restaurants: take their filthy habit outside, away from any place where passive smoke might intrude on the nose of nonsmokers.

As for the 32 states that still allow smoking where food and drink are served, what's wrong with you?

Get with it: this is the 21st century. Stop catering to the whims of the inconsiderate minority.